National Policy Statement for Nuclear Energy Generation

Lord Browne of Ladyton Excerpts

Wednesday 21st May 2025 Grand Committee

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords, I draw your Lordships’ Committee’s attention to my entry in the register of interests, particularly that I am vice-chair of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, for which I do consultancy work. It is a not-for-profit organisation with a global reputation based in Washington DC, and its work is focused on nuclear security and safety. It is the publisher of the annual Nuclear Security Index. It was in partnership with the Obama Administration in the nuclear security summit that he held after he made his famous speech in Prague that everyone remembers. That will influence my contribution to this debate.

It is an enormous pleasure to follow my friend and fellow Celt, the noble Lord, Lord Wigley. I had no idea of his qualifications in this scientific area, but I commend his speech; I will take it, word for word, to the members of his sister party in Scotland, the SNP, to remind it that nuclear energy is not what it thinks it is. I intend to take this message to Glasgow in another form shortly, and I invite him to come to take part in explaining to the people of Scotland that there is such a thing as safe and secure nuclear energy.

It was an enormous privilege and delight to be present while the noble Baroness, Lady Maclean of Redditch, made her maiden speech in your Lordships’ Committee. She will be aware that her family name has its origins in Scotland. It is a Gaelic name that means, in one interpretation, “son of the servant of John”. It is derived from the name of the 13th-century warrior Gillean. I shudder to give his full title, but I will—it is Gillean of the Battle Axe. The noble Baroness gave a speech of great clarity and passion, and while I did not agree with all of the policy suggestions that she made, she eminently has the ear of your Lordships’ House, and I look forward to hearing her speak again many times. Maybe on those occasions I will be more direct on the areas on which I disagree with her, and I look forward to doing that.

It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to address this critically important issue and to commend my Government on the steps that they have already taken since coming into office. Mindful of the depth of expertise—which deepened when my friend, the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, spoke—among other noble Lords participating this afternoon, I will make just a few observations on the international context by which the success of the NPS will be measured and will ask a couple of more specific questions.

Over the last few years of the Conservative Government, we heard much talk of Britain leading the world in a multiplicity of areas—rhetoric often untethered, as far as I could see, from any specific policy aims or objectives. Given the international context, this national policy statement is timely. COP 28 made the international direction of travel clear, with nuclear energy recognised, for the first time in a major COP decision, as among the solutions needed to keep the 1.5-degree goal within reach. Six more countries have opted to become signatories to the Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy by 2050, bringing the total to 31 and meaning that we will be faced with a swathe of countries bringing nuclear into their energy mix for the first time. That will generate potential non-proliferation challenges. If we do not make the same mistake that was made by what was called Atoms for Peace, by spreading material around the world which was for good purposes but became a potential source of challenge and recently had to be brought back very quickly, we will have done well—but there will be these challenges. The countries that have taken this on will need leadership and help and, in many cases, because of long-standing relationships, the UK will be called upon to give that leadership.

SMRs have begun to be deployed in China and Russia. The International Energy Agency—IEA—estimates that 80 SMR concepts are in development and two US SMR developers are currently in negotiations with their domestic nuclear regulator with a view to imminent deployment. However, this situation is fraught with risk as well as potential. Emerging nuclear energy countries will face the task of securing this critical national infrastructure as well as the potential political and logistical challenges inherent in the deployment of SMRs, which is an area in which the UK has the chance to assume—and maybe share—genuine global leadership.

This international context points to the necessity of an uptick in nuclear deployment and capacity in the UK. EN-7 explicitly identifies the importance of accelerating investment into SMRs and AMRs. The Prime Minister has publicly identified a goal of deployment in the early 2030s; planning regulations have already been eased with a view to swift approval for SMR deployment, and new nuclear technology has been cited as indispensable for the Government’s growth agenda.

In this context, and at a time when the issue of energy security is increasingly prominent, the new national policy statement gives us an opportunity to adopt a position of leadership, as well as enhancing our sovereign energy supply. With a national developer, a national insurer and a climate encouraging investment, the UK can ensure that it is well placed to assist other nations in risk mitigation and ensure that they do not become non-proliferation risks but are able adequately to ensure the security of SMRs and AMRs.

The noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, in an excellent speech, made reference to the need for proper regulation. We have in the United Kingdom, by international reputation, a first-class regulator. We have a very good history in relation to the regulation and safety of nuclear, being a nuclear-armed country, which is an additional challenge. I recognise the source of the Cumbrian problem that she identified, but that goes back a long way in history. Recently, we had—and, in the future, I predict that we will have—that strong regulation, and it will be the enemy of large parts of the world if this story that I am telling becomes a reality. Those countries will need help from us in that regard.

There are overt political challenges, including incentivising communities to accept local SMR deployment. The response to the first round of consultation on this national policy statement showed that around 40% of respondents remain concerned about the prospect of future SMR and AMR deployment, citing environmental concerns, concerns around the disposal of radioactive waste and opposition to nuclear energy in principle. Given that microreactors are likely to be ready for deployment by the late 2020s, they may have a critical role to play in assuaging the concerns of communities that would otherwise be cautious about the prospect of SMR deployment in their local area.

I live within about 20 minutes’ walk from two nuclear power stations, at Hunterston in the west coast of Scotland, which are being decommissioned at the moment. These nuclear power stations not only were partly built by local labour, although expertise was brought in, but have provided excellent long-term jobs to the people of the area, who would welcome more nuclear development at that site. The people of Scotland have welcomed the building of a disproportionate number of wind energy turbines: there are 11,000 wind energy turbines in this country, of which 4,000 or more are in Scotland; and Scotland, substantially through them, generates 25% of the renewable energy on these islands. This is welcomed by the people of Scotland, and I do not understand the opposition to this form of energy generation that seems to pop its head up everywhere I go in England. I quite often say to some of my English friends, “If the alternative is a coal-fired power station, I do not understand why you can’t live with these”.

I will share a story with noble Lords. When I was an MP in the west of Scotland, I had part of the largest onshore wind farm in Europe in my constituency. I had few problems. I had two people come to me, separately. One was concerned about the disturbance to planes landing at Glasgow Airport, because it was on the flight path. I brought somebody from Glasgow Airport to persuade him, very quickly, that it was not going to disturb the radar or the ability to land planes. Another was very worried about damage to birdlife, so I brought in an expert on birds from Glasgow University, who sat him down and said, “Birds are very interesting in the way they developed. It didn’t take them long, as they emerged, to be able to figure out how to avoid trees”. There are a series of explanations of that nature to people who are worried about this sort of thing.

As we have heard, SMRs have been explicitly identified as a critical component in the successful delivery of the Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan. AI data centres are power intensive and will require a more resilient energy mix as well as an exponential increase in capacity. This challenge is one in which the Government are already engaging, but the scale of that challenge is clear, with an IEA report recently suggesting that the amount of electricity needed to power the world’s data centres will double in the next five years. The revised criteria for selection in EN-7 will open up far more capacity and diversity, taking into account emerging technologies such as SMRs and AMRs. Indeed, Energy UK’s response to the consultation’s second question makes clear its belief that EN-7 has been drafted in such a way as to future- proof for technological developments.

As Monday’s proceedings in your Lordships’ House made clear, time is very much of the essence for SMRs, especially if we are to ensure that they will be made in Britain with a UK supply chain. The Czech Government announced Rolls-Royce as their developer of choice, with a site already chosen for the first SMR deployment near the existing Temelín plant. As Great British Nuclear comes to the end of its evaluation process, I think that we would all be grateful for any information that my noble friend the Minister can give on the timescale within which an announcement will be made on the UK’s national supplier of SMRs. He engaged with us on this subject in your Lordships’ House earlier this week, but I would like to hear him do so again.

Finally, an update on the work of the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce would be extremely welcome. EN-7 should prove a critical step in establishing a favourable regulatory framework to encourage the deployment of both on-grid and off-grid SMRs and AMRs. Assuming that this is achieved, it has the potential to unlock international investment, thereby addressing the skills shortage for nuclear infrastructure, enhancing the UK’s position on a global scale and enabling us to export our expertise to other countries. This is all in the service of increasing low-carbon baseload electricity at a lower price. For these reasons, my noble friend the Minister and the Government have my full support as this national policy statement is finalised and the associated legislation makes its way to your Lordships’ House.